A conversation with the CEO of Virtual High School

Meghan B. Kelly

Wednesday

Jun 25, 2008 at 12:01 AMJun 25, 2008 at 11:32 PM

It was only about 10 years ago that taking online courses from a high school sounded ridiculous to many administrators. The idea high school students could be taught in an online environment, without direct supervision, was laughable, says Liz Pape, CEO of Virtual High School.

It was only about 10 years ago that taking online courses from a high school sounded ridiculous to many administrators. The idea high school students could be taught in an online environment, without direct supervision, was laughable, says Liz Pape, CEO of Virtual High School.

But things have changed. VHS, a non-profit, has almost 11,000 students enrolled. These students come from schools in 29 states and 23 countries all over the world.

And teachers and administrators are really seeing the difference. Not only are test scores of VHS students are competitive with those of brick and mortar schools, but students are also able to expand their choices, to take classes that wouldn’t be available at their own high school.

What’s more, students are learning 21st century skills: how to communicate effectively online, how to use legitimate Web sites and how to use new and current technology.

Virtual High School began with Pape, when she started off working as a grant administrator/technology director for a grant held by the Concord Consortium in the early to mid-1990s. The grant allowed the consortium to begin the framework of what is now VHS.

In October 2001, VHS moved from the consortium and became a non-profit.

Pape was recently selected as a national finalist for the 2008 Cable’s Leaders in Learning Awards, which honors teachers, administrators and community leaders who demonstrate examples of innovative and interactive learning.

She recently spoke to The Beacon-Villager about her duties as CEO and the future of online education. The company is headquartered at Clock Tower Place and Maynard High is a member of VHS.

Q: How did you end up at Virtual High School?

Pape: I ended up as the CEO of VHS because I had previously been working since the [late 1980s] in schools as a technology specialist. In those positions, I was responsible for bringing the Internet into schools. This was during the days of “net day,” when schools were asking for parents to volunteer to help pull wires in school buildings and build network closets, so that kids could have access to the Internet.

Q: Where was this?

Pape: I was working in Sterling and then in Shrewsbury. It was in Shrewsbury… at the middle school, when we did all of those net day activities. Previously, the computers were just simply used as standalones. I found myself saying to the kids, “Well, don’t go to that site,” or “Don’t download that,” because there was a lot of non-educational material out there, which was not appropriate. I thought, this is really wonderful that they have access to the Internet, but it’s not really maximizing its use for us, because I’m spending more time saying, “No!” I was thinking, I really wish there were more resources available out there that were being pushed into the schools.

Q: As CEO, what do you do? What’s the day-to-day aspect of it like?

Pape: So, as CEO, I’m really responsible for developing the strategic plan for Virtual High School, and then executing on that, on not only an annual basis, where we set our annual goals, but also on a day-to-day operational basis…. I’m also responsible for communicating the VHS vision of online education out there, and that’s why I speak at a lot of national conferences. I speak at regional conferences and I also do a lot of writing. I just completed a book chapter, a couple of articles… a lot of writing that goes on.

I also have, as part of the day-to-day operational thing, all of the materials that are out there, about VHS, like the marketing materials, the newsletter that comes out twice a year… I pretty much totally am responsible for. Those are the pieces that really try to get other people to understand what VHS is about and also to get them to have an understanding of how they know we’re a quality educational service to schools.

Q: Do you think people see online learning as inferior, or sub-par?

Pape: Not anymore. But certainly, when I first started – I’ll never forget. My first conference was back in 1998, at the Model Schools Conference, and wow, were administrators resistant to the concept of online courses… They couldn’t understand how you could teach kids online without a teacher lecturing, nor could they comprehend how it would be a quality product for kids. I think VHS has done an admirable job in answering both of those questions… So for example, when someone says, “How do I know your courses are any good?” I can show them our Advanced Placement courses, where kids have to take the same exam that other kids take, and I can show them the test scores, which are as good or better than other kids.

And they say, “Well, how do I know that if I free up my high school classroom teacher one period a day to teach this online course, that it doesn’t become a free period for them where they can do whatever they want?” and so, we’ve got indicators that will show to them that these people are working. They’re just not working the way [the administrators] are used to seeing them work – working on the white board or in the science lab. But they’re teaching kids. They’re responding to kids and they’re giving kids feedback, and they’re guiding kids when they run into roadblocks around their learning.

Q: How is teaching online different from teaching in a classroom?

Pape: For us, what it requires is for teachers to re-think their approach to education… We’re not looking for somebody to take a lecture model of teaching and translate that into an iPod, podcast or a lot of written text on a screen… The power of online to really enable teachers to focus on students individually in a way that is really tough to do in a classroom when they’re all sitting there in front of you. I think that’s the most important thing is that – and teachers have told us this – they feel it is purer teaching from the perspective of working with students, one-on-one, to guide them through their learning process. So it turns things upside down a little bit, in that it’s no longer about… it’s more about the teacher working in partnership with the kid, or the students, as they take ownership of their learning.

Q: Do you think this prepares kids better for the working world, because more and more of our communication is online these days?

Pape: Yes, I think immediately, it better prepares them for college, to work more independently and it teaches them better to manage their time, their assignments, their workload. Freshmen year is a killer, in that respect.

Q: I wonder, does taking an online course also show students the proper way to conduct discourse online? I know it’s a common complaint, because many teenagers don’t understand Netiquette or realize how unprofessional it looks to respond back to a teacher or professor with poor grammar and spelling, like “text speak.”

Pape: We have policies around Netiquette. We have clearly stated expectations in every course, where we go over that, again and again, around Netiquette… As part of the grading rubric, it will state, it must be in proper grammar. We teach them the difference between formal and informal communication.

Q: Do you think that something like VHS will be a model for teaching in the future? I sometimes hear people saying we should move away from the current model we have. Students aren’t farmers’ kids anymore, for example.

Pape: Right, why do we still do a summer break? It has been documented that kids lose skills [over the summer].

Q: Unless you have a mom who makes you do workbooks all summer.

Pape: [laughs] Hey, I’m with your mom, so don’t complain. You’re right, we’re still using an agricultural model. Going back to your question, around does this prepare kids, in terms of workforce, I think it also does a really good job of preparing kids… Any college graduate who thinks they’ve graduated with their bachelor’s, [thinking] that they’re done, is sorely mistaken. They need to recognize the fact that, as citizens, they need to keep up their skill set. They don’t have any other options but become effective, life-long learners. This is a very effective way to do that.

Reporter Meghan B. Kelly can be reached at 978-371-5758 or mkelly@cnc.com.

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